Treaty of Labuan

Treaty of Labuan

Treaty of the Cession of the Island of Labuan to Great Britain
The signing of the Treaty of Labuan between the Sultan of Brunei and the British delegation on 18 December 1846 at the Brunei palace
Type	Bilateral / Unequal
Signed	18 December 1846 (1846-12-18)
Location	Brunei Town, Brunei
Sealed	18 December 1846
Effective	24 December 1846 (1846-12-24)
Condition	Accession of Labuan to Great Britain
Expiration	1946 (100 years)
Signatories	Omar Ali Saifuddin II, on behalf of Brunei, James Brooke and Rodney Mundy, on behalf of the United Kingdom.
Parties	Brunei and United Kingdom Brunei  United Kingdom
Languages	English and Malay
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Brunei and United Kingdom

The Treaty of Labuan which was signed between the government of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and the Sultan of Brunei on 18 December 1846. Under this treaty, the Sultan of Brunei ceded the Island of Labuan, which had been a long possession of the Kingdom since its first Sultan to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain. Syair Rakis (Rakis Poem), a poem which was written by Pengiran Indera Mahkota Pengiran Muhammad Salleh, the former Governor of Sarawak, in which he mourn the loss of Labuan to Great Britain.

The Island of Labuan was once part of the Sultanate of Brunei since the reign of the first Sultan of Brunei, Muhammad Shah. Labuan Island, previously uninhabited, was used by Malay and Chinese merchants and traders to shelter their ships from storms. Labuan Island was important economically for Brunei as it was regarded as the Sultanate's gateway to the outside world. Labuan was considered as a safe shelter and strategically sited to protect Brunei interest in the region especially the China trade route between Brunei and Manila. After the fall of Manila to the Spaniards, trading activities in Labuan increased the Island's revenues as taxes increased, due to the increasing number of traders and merchants who came for water supply and most importantly, coal, which Labuan had vast reserves on the Island.

Labuan Island attracted foreign interests due to the economic potentials of the Island. However, to Brunei, Labuan was their secret weapon in quelling pirates activities in Brunei Seas, especially the Sulus, who was once under Brunei rule. In 1700s, the Sultan of Brunei offered Labuan Island to the British in exchange to assistance to protect Brunei from Sulu pirates. However, the offer came to nothing.

By 1800s, several foreign powers started to come to Southeast Asia, started by the Portuguese's conquest of Malacca in 1511 and the Dutch's conquest of Java and Southern Borneo, as a result of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, Labuan became more important to the foreign powers as from Labuan, the foreign powers began to venture into Borneo Island.